1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inspection and monitoring of equipment and assemblies used on or in connection with wells, particularly during storage and shipment of the equipment and assemblies, to verify the integrity of such items.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oil and gas well completion tools, drilling tools, and other completion and drilling accessories required for use on a particular well are typically placed in one or more shipping containers for transportation to a well site for use on a rig or a well operation. Those items of well equipment are assembled as a group according to the specific well operation for which they are intended at the particular well site. The shipping container or containers typically used may be a metal basket of varying dimensions. Such a metal basket or container is placed on a truck, marine vessel, or other transport vehicle to be transported to a well site. At the well site, the tools are then available for use. Rather than containers, some or all of these objects may from time to time be placed on a trailer, strapped or secured down, and then transported to a well location.
In addition, for certain wells or certain well operations, specific specialized items of equipment are required. This may include, but not be limited to, the certification of certain drilling and completion components and assemblies. This certification may include, for example, re-inspection of assembled components, testing of assembled components and verification of completion of components. Certification of the materials or composition of particular components is also an important factor. For example, if there are special pressure or gas composition conditions in a particular well, the well tools may need to be of a particular composition, or of a specified strength of steel.
It is an acknowledged fact that on occasions certain components or assemblies have been taken or lost from their containers while in storage or during a shipment to fulfill an order for another job. This could occur for a number of reasons. For example, such a loss might occur when several jobs are being loaded and equipment for one job must be shipped before the others. Problems occur when the component that was taken from one shipping container does not get replaced. The container with missing equipment can be sent to a well site and the absence of one more items only then becomes known. In such a case, operations on the well rig must be suspended to wait on a replacement component or assemblage.
Suspension of operations of an offshore drilling or completion rig or land drilling or completion rig to wait on components is expensive. The costs could range from ten thousand dollars per day on a land rig to over two hundred fifty thousand dollars per day for an offshore rig.